The Hyuuga Slave
by hannalucky
Summary: After the death of his parents, Neji is assigned a slave. The young woman gives him lessons through stories, even if he does not follow through with them until he is older.
1. Meet Rebekah

The Hyuuga Slave

Meet Rebekah

Chapter 1

"Neji, this is Rebekah. She will be living with you until further notice."

With those words, Lord Hiashi Hyuuga turned and left his six year old nephew with a young woman with an inverted branch family seal on her forehead. The young woman bowed at the retreating back of the man who had bought her.

"So, you are the one that will be my slave," stated Neji glaring at her.

"Essentially, young master Neji, but I really report to Lord Hyuuga until you are considered old enough and responsible enough to have full ownership of me. Until then, I have been assigned as a guardian of sorts to you." Rebekah answers the young boy calmly.

"What do you mean by my guardian? I thought that you were my slave."

"Someone needs to make sure that a budding shinobi eats his greens. If I listened to you on everything, you might end up eating only sweets. Most things you are in charge, but some things I can choose not to obey because it would not be in your best interest." Rebekah looks at the sun and looks down at Neji. "About food, it would be a good time to head to the kitchen so that I can cook tonight's meal. We can talk some more once dinner is started."

"Fine," Neji grumbles. He leads his slave/guardian to his small house that is in the cluster of other branch family homes that surrounds the main house. He shared this house with his parents before they died. His father was killed in place of his father's twin brother, Hiashi Hyuuga. His mother died only the month before from the seal activation by one of the elders. She had refused to go with the elder for a private discussion at night.

Rebekah carries a spare change of clothes and follows the young master. They enter the small house. Neji points out different places in the house. "The living room, kitchen, pantry and a bathroom are down here. The bedrooms and another bathroom are upstairs. Uncle Hiashi said that you can sleep in the small room off of the kitchen." They walk in the kitchen and Rebekah places her spare clothes on the futon in her new room.

When Rebekah returns to the kitchen, she finds Neji sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen facing towards the general food preparation area. "How do I know that what you say is what you are supposed to do? How do I know that you are not lying?"

Rebekah turns to face the petulant boy. "Young master Neji, how about we make a promise to each other. It will make this situation easier on the both of us. I will not lie to you if you do not lie to me. I know you want to become a shinobi. If you will listen to me, I will do my best to help you become the best shinobi that you can be."

"That's it? I just have to not lie to you and listen to you, and you won't lie to me and you will help me? How can you help me be a good shinobi? You are only a slave." Neji crossed his arms and tried to stare her down like his uncle is able to do.

Rebekah just smiles and looks him dead in the eye. "One thing I learned pretty quickly is that unless a person has need of a slave, they will take no notice. I may not be able to physically perform the hand to hand fights, but I can watch others and then tell you how to do it and correct you. Also, as I told you before, I will make sure that you are healthy enough to be a good shinobi. That includes how you eat."

Neji frowns a bit and tries to find something else that is wrong with the two promises. "How will I know that you will follow your promise?"

Rebekah continues looking him in the eye. "In the first place, I don't lie. In some cultures, when two people come to an agreement, they exchange a sandal in front of the city elders, but for now we can just exchange a hand shake to prove our promise."

Rebekah now offers her hand to young boy. Neji considers the offer for a few moments and finally reaches for her hand. Rebekah smiles at him and turns to the food that they have.

"Tonight and in the morning we will have onigiri. Tomorrow I will go shopping so that we can have more of a variety. Would you like to go with me to the market?"

"I think I will stay here."

Rebekah nods at his response and starts to make the rice balls. "Would you like to hear a story about how good food can make a difference?"

"How can a story about food be interesting?" Neji frowns at her like the suggestion is absolutely ridiculous.

"You would be surprised. The story I wish to tell you is about four young men that rose from captivity to the service of the king. One of those men became beloved by the king."

"Fine, tell the story. It better be good." Neji tells her.

"You can decide for yourself once the story is over. This story takes place in a land called Babylon. The young men were from the land of Judah and were Israelites. Their homeland had been conquered by the Babylonians and most were taken as captives away from their homes. Their names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

"They were brought to the palace along with other young men to be taught by the chief of the court officials. The best were to be brought into the service of the king. They were to be taught the language and literature of the Babylonians. They were to be from good families in their homelands, without physical defects, handsome, quick learners, know what is going on, quick to understand, and qualified to serve the king. The king assigned the young men with a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. The training was to last three years. Young master Neji, how much training do you get from the academy before you enter the service of the Hokage?" She pauses in the telling of the story for Neji to answer. She places a plate of rice cakes and a glass of water in front of him while she waits for an answer.

"A shinobi in training attends the academy for about four years before they are placed on genin teams with a jonin instructor." Neji replies like he is reading out of a text book. He grabs a rice ball and takes a bite out of it. "I bet the food was the best part of it. If it came from the king's table it must be good." He finally swallows his bite.

Rebekah glances at him disapprovingly. "Swallow before you speak. It is rude and bad manners. Besides, they never found out how good the food and wine tastes."

"Huh? What do you mean they never got to eat the food? Were they so bad that they never got to eat it? Is it because they were captives?" Neji is completely confused now.

"They weren't bad, and all the other young men being trained were also captives. They chose not to eat the food. Anyway, I thought you weren't interested in the story." Rebekah smiles and takes a bite out of her own rice ball.

"It is not that I'm interested in it anyway, but shouldn't you finish it because you started it?" Neji tries to hide that he is actually interested in the story and tries to act a bit snobby.

Rebekah sees through him, but plays along. "You are correct, young master Neji. You should always finish what you start, no matter what you are doing. It could be finishing a story, a lesson, your rice balls, or even your mission as a shinobi. You must finish what you start. You will be respected for it is you live by that rule."

"So, if I start training, I should keep at it until it is done. Right?"

"Right. No matter how hard it is. Can I get back to the story now?"

"Continue, Rebekah." Neji says with an imperious wave of his hand.

Rebekah smothers a smile but continues to tell the story. "But Daniel resolved not to ruin himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to ruin himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, 'I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men you age? The king would then have my head because of you.'

"Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 'Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.' So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

"At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

"To those four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

"At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to the king. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."

By the end of the story both master and slave were finished eating. As Rebekah started to clear the dishes and began to clean them she asked Neji if he had any questions.

"Why did they look better than everyone else and wasn't it their fate to be better than anyone else no matter what they ate?" Neji asks Rebekah with a frown.

"They looked better because they were healthier than everyone else. If you expect good to come out of your body, then you have to put good in. That is one of the reasons that I will be the one in charge of deciding on meals, until you learn how to balance a meal by yourself."

Neji interrupts her at this point. "But I don't need to prepare a healthy meal. That is what you are for. You are the slave. You are supposed to serve me."

Rebekah calmly responds to the irate young boy. "I will not be following you when you are sent on missions for the Hokage. It is rude to interrupt a person when they are speaking. No matter what station the person is. It will become a bad habit and you could interrupt someone that you have no business interrupting. You said it was their fate to be better. I can confidently tell you that if they had eaten the food and wine from the king's table, they would not have stood out from the other young men."

"But why?" Neji is persistent about finding out this information. "Everyone has a fate and no matter how hard you try, you cannot escape from it."

She sighs. "There is some information about their God that I have not told you. Because they serve their God, their God gave his people some rules to live by. Some of those rules were about what food they could eat, because some food is bad for you and He wants what is best for his people. Now, those four young men followed God's rules even when nobody else was. God blessed them for obeying Him."

"But it still was their fate to be the best." Neji refuses to let the topic of fate die.

Rebekah pauses a moment and answers him. "It could be, but it is not our place to decide that. Only God knows what will happen, so we must try to do what is right." She glances at the clock. "We will discuss this more in the morning if you have any more questions. Now it is time to go to bed. Both of us will have long days tomorrow."

Rebekah sends him off to bed for the night and tells him she will be up later to make sure that he is in bed and asleep. While Neji is asleep, she draws up the shopping list for tomorrow. When that is finished, she checks the young master and says a prayer for his protection. She turns the house off and locks the doors. She then retreats to her futon, says her prayers and falls into a deep sleep. Tomorrow would bring enough trouble without her working about it now.

AN: I do not own Naruto. The story that Rebekah told Neji was from Daniel 1.


	2. Be Nice, Neji

The Hyuuga Slave

Be Nice, Neji

Chapter 2

"Rebekah, did you hear? It is Lady Hinata's fifth birthday next week." It was Delilah; she was a servant in the main house. She was also a bit of a gossip. The only reason she came to speak with Rebekah was when she wanted to lord something over her. Delilah was a servant in the main house, but she was free.

Rebekah was washing dishes when Delilah burst in. Neji was at the table working on his homework for the day before it was his time to go to the branch training grounds for his lesson with an older cousin. When Rebekah turns around, Neji had disappeared.

"Young, master Neji!" He was nowhere in sight. "That boy is getting stranger by the hour!"

"Didn't you know, Rebekah, about that branch boy's father?" Delilah asks Rebekah with a condescending look on her face.

"No, I do not. It is not any of my business, nor is it any of yours." At those words, Rebekah spun around and returned to her dishes. She is waiting for Delilah to leave before she goes and tracks down Neji.

Deborah wouldn't let sleeping dogs lie though. "Oh, that's right. You are just the slave of a slave. You aren't allowed to know anything. I don't know why you don't ask around about things. I always know when someone important will be visiting so that I can make sure that I will be on duty where they can meet me. I have the option of marrying so I don't need to serve the pampered Hyuuga anymore."

"Hold your tongue! You should be grateful that you have a job that provides for you." Rebekah thins her lips and puts away the dishes with more force than necessary. "Now if you will excuse me, I have other chores to do."

Rebekah leaves Delilah gaping after her. She then heads towards the branch training grounds to see if Neji has reported for lessons earlier. No luck. She then heads toward his hiding spot to watch the main branch's training grounds. No Neji there either.

"Slave, come here." Lord Hiashi Hyuuga approaches Rebekah with the young heiress hanging onto his leg.

Rebekah turns to face the pair from the main branch. When she bows at them, she averts her eyes. "Yes, Master Hyuuga, is there anything that I can do for you and the young mistress?" She self-consciously smoothes her skirt down.

"You are the slave assigned to Neji's care. You are to watch Hinata for the rest of today. A branch family member will be sent to retrieve her when it is time for her to return to the main house." Lord Hyuuga then turns to his small daughter, "You will go with the slave and you will not cause any trouble. If I hear anything about you causing trouble, I will be displeased." At these cold words, Lord Hyuuga leaves his trembling daughter with Rebekah.

Rebekah crouches down to Hinata's level. "Can you tell me your name, young Mistress?"

Hinata pokes her fingers together and bows her head and stutters out, "H-h-hinata, Lady."

Rebekah smiles encouragingly at the small child. "My name is Rebekah, young mistress Hinata. Why don't you come with me, I have been searching for my young charge, your cousin Neji. I need to leave a message with the branch cousin at the training grounds, and then we will head over the home I share with young master Neji."

Rebekah offers her hand to Hinata and they head towards the training grounds. After leaving a message with the cousin supervising the branch children's training for Neji to come directly home, Rebekah and Hinata arrive in the kitchen.

She places Hinata up on a tall stepstool next to her work area. "Young mistress Hinata, would you like to help me with baking bread? I would ask young master Neji if he would like to help me, but he is a boy and what do boys know about the kitchen except where to sit to get food?"

Hinata smiles at Rebekah a bit tentatively. Rebekah rummages in a nearby cabinet and pulls out a big container filled with flour. She takes the lid off, but before she can do anything else she glances at the clothes Hinata is wearing.

"Oh, no! I forgot that you have such nice clothes on. Wait right here, young mistress Hinata. I'll be right back with an old training shirt of young master Neji's." Rebekah leaves the room with Hinata bashfully pulling at her clothes. "Here we go. Your cousin just grew out of this, but it should be big enough to protect your clothes."

Rebekah helps Hinata get the large shirt on and helps her push up the sleeves so that she can help. Hinata looks up at Rebekah ready to help. "W-w-what do we do first, Miss Rebekah?"

Rebekah, with a big grin on her face says, "We make a mess, young mistress Hinata."

Hinata stares at her with her pale eyes wide. "A m-mess?"

"Yep!" Rebekah then spreads some flour over the counter. "Can you help me cover the counter with this flour so that the bread dough doesn't stick?"

Hinata nods and takes a pinch of flour and puts it on the counter. Rebekah just shakes her head with an amused look on her face.

"Young mistress Hinata, no matter what you do, you should put your whole heart in it. Now, like this." Rebekah covers Hinata's hands and sticks them in the flour. With her larger hands, she helped scoop the flour with much smaller hands.

Rebekah then draws a square on the counter with a flour covered finger. "Young mistress Hinata, would you please spread the flour all around inside this square here.

Hinata nods and begins to spread the flour with just her fingertips. Rebekah sighs.

"Young mistress Hinata, look at me." Hinata turns her body towards Rebekah but her eyes were on her toes. Rebekah just crouches down to her level and raises her face to look Rebekah in the eyes. "Let me tell you a little secret, it will be between you and me. This is the secret to be able to do anything that you want. Do you want to know, young mistress Hinata?"

Hinata nods. "To do anything, you need two things to work together. They are your head and your heart." As Rebekah says this, she pokes Hinata in the places she just mentioned. "You use your head to know how to do something and you use your heart to know that you can do it."

"I don't understand. How does my heart help me?"

"You use your heart to believe in yourself. You can be the smartest person in the world, but you will not be able to do anything if you don't think you do it. Take this flour here, anyone can spread the flour around, but you need to believe that you can do it."

Hinata begins to look more confident in herself. She puts her whole hand in the flour and begins to spread it around the square.

When Hinata finished with the flour, Rebekah grabs another bowl from the counter and sets it off to the side. She then goes into her cupboards and pulls out three jars. Out of a lower cupboard, she pulls out a jug.

Rebekah begins to mix the water, and sugar together. "Watch, young mistress Hinata, as I put the yeast in. If the yeast is good, then it will start to bubble, if it is bad then it will do nothing."

When Rebekah added the yeast, Hinata stared at it like she was willing something to happen. "Look, Miss Rebekah, its bubbling!" The water was starting to bubble and froth.

"Now we add the rest of the ingredients." Rebekah hands Hinata the cooking oil and salt to put in to the mix. Rebekah then pulls the flour over to them and hands Hinata a measuring cup. "Young mistress Hinata, just start adding the flour until I tell you to stop and I will mix it up."

Rebekah stops Hinata so that she can take the dough out of the jar and onto the flour square. She has Hinata help mix up the dough and puts it in another bowl. Rebekah puts a cloth over top the bowl and puts it to the side and out of the way.

Rebekah takes the old shirt off of Hinata and says, "Come, young mistress Hinata, it is time to find where young master Neji has wandered off to."

Rebekah and Hinata walk to the Branch training grounds. When they get there, they find Neji sparring, and winning without much effort, against a slightly older cousin under the watchful eyes of the cousin in charge. Rebekah walks up to the cousin in charge. "When did he turn up?"

Without taking his eyes off the two boys, he replies to her, "He showed up just before we got started. He was almost late. After this, he will stretch and then he is free to go home with you."

The cousin has the boys finish up and cool down.

Rebekah approaches the boys with Hinata following her. "Young master Neji, it is time to go home now."

Both boys look up at Rebekah and both notice Hinata, but they have different reactions to the young heiress. They both say "Lady Hinata," but Neji is not as respectful as his cousin. He says it with a look on his face like he just got a mouthful of lemon juice. He starts to spin around to storm off in the opposite reaction, but Rebekah grabs his arm before he could make his escape.

"Young master Neji, I can't keep track of both you and young mistress Hinata if you keep running off like you did earlier."

"Why are you watching her anyways? She is not your responsibility." Neji is almost whining.

"When you ran off earlier, I went to go look for you. As I was doing that, I encountered Master Hyuuga and young mistress Hinata. The Master asked me to watch the young mistress for the day." Rebekah says all this while keeping a firm hold of Neji's arm and leads both him and Hinata back to the house.

"Young master Neji, sit at the table and finish your homework. Young mistress Hinata and I will be finishing the bread." She turns to Hinata, "Young mistress Hinata, lift the cloth off the bowl and tell me if anything has happened to the dough."

Neji makes himself look busy with his homework while at the same time trying to hide the glare he is aiming at Hinata without Rebekah noticing. Rebekah ignores Neji's glaring and watches as Hinata pulls the stepstool over to the counter.

Hinata gasps. "Miss Rebekah, it's bigger! How did it do it?"

Neji rolls his eyes because Hinata was excited about something as stupid as dough getting bigger. Rebekah catches him and scolds him, "Young master Neji, have you finished problem twenty-three?" Neji does not answer her but he goes back to working on his homework.

"Young mistress Hinata, do you remember the little bit of yeast we put in?" Rebekah waits for Hinata to nod before continuing. "The yeast is like when you believe that you can do something. Just a little bit of yeast makes a big difference. It gets into every little bit of the dough and makes it bigger than it was at first. If you believe in yourself then you can do better than you did before."

Hinata starts to smile at Rebekah until Neji ruined it when he snorted. Rebekah puts the dough in the oven and spins around to face Neji. "Young master Neji, do you have something to add?"

Hinata's smile starts to drop as Neji begins to answer. "Anyone can do better than what she does now. She has been unable to hold the Byakugan for very long. She is clumsy when practicing and she has no grace."

"Hold your tongue, young master Neji. Who are you to pass judgment on another?" Rebekah's temper is rising.

"It is fate that she is to be bad." Neji refuses to back away from criticizing Hinata.

"You mean that you spy on a little girl that is younger and smaller than you, and then you dare to insult her for trying her hardest!"

"You have no control over me! You are just a slave. You should be listening to me-"

"Stop, young man, you have forgotten that until you are old enough to be your own guardian, I am in charge here. That has been set by your uncle, Master Hyuuga. Neither of us can go against his commands. Until the day when you are considered an adult by the Master, you have to listen to me. Is that clear, young master Neji?"

"…"

"I said, is that clear?"

"Yes, Miss Rebekah."

"For your punishment, you are confined to your room for the rest of the night. You will not have dinner, only a slice of bread and a glass of water."

"Yes, Miss Rebekah." Neji slinks up the stairs and tries not to draw any more of Rebekah's temper towards him. Hinata had watched the whole argument with wide eyes.

Rebekah turns to face Hinata. Hinata's eyes are covered with unshed tears and she is trembling. Rebekah approaches the little girl, but Hinata flinches away. Rebekah continues forward and pulls Hinata into a hug.

"Do not listen to what young master Neji says. There will always be people that tell you that you are no good. You have to believe in yourself, no matter what. Neji hurts, that is why he hurts others."

Hinata relaxes into the hug. Rebekah begins to hum a lullaby and rock Hinata in a comforting motion.

A knock at the door interrupts the peace. Rebekah puts down Hinata and opens the door. It is a branch family cousin. "May I help you?"

The cousin nods, "I'm here for Lady Hinata. It is time for her to return to the main house."

Rebekah nods, "Young mistress Hinata, it is time for you to go home." Rebekah bends down and gives Hinata a hug and whispers in her ear, "Remember, if you ever need anything, I'm always here for you. You are welcome anytime. Believe in yourself and you will grow like the dough did." Rebekah releases Hinata from the hug.

Hinata nods and offers a shy smile to Rebekah, "Bye, Miss Rebekah. Thank you for watching me today."

The cousin grabs her hand and leads her out of the small house.

Rebekah sighs and walks back to the kitchen to finish the bread and finish cleaning the kitchen.

"What am I going to do with that boy?" she whispers to herself.

A.N.: Yeah, another chapter is up (finally). Rebekah has a bit of a temper in this chapter and Hinata is seen for the first time.


	3. Some Hyuuga Issues

The Hyuuga Slave

Some Hyuuga Issues

Chapter 3

It is a week after Rebekah was assigned to care for the heiress, Hinata, and the day before the double festive. One festival is to take place in the village to celebrate the signing of the treaty with Cloud. The other festival is to take place inside the Hyuuga compound. It is Lady Hinata's fifth birthday.

Since Delilah brought up Neji's father, the boy had become quieter and more withdrawn. He had stopped trying to imitate his Uncle with snobbish manners and retreated to his room when he had nothing else he had to do specifically.

Today, Neji is acting no different than he had for the past week. Rebekah is preparing a cold breakfast for the two of them. She had stopped fixing a hot breakfast after she had almost burned the house down trying to get Neji moving.

Rebekah covers breakfast when she is finished with the preparations. She has already told the Young Master it was time to get moving so that he could get to his pre-academy lessons on time. It is now time to go upstairs and physically remove him from his bed. As she was headed for the stairs, a knock on the front door interrupts her. Rebekah sighs and turns to the door. Before answering, she calls one more time to the boy. "Young Master Neji, this is your last warning. If you are not downstairs by the time I am back to the kitchen after I answer the door, I will carry you to your lessons in your sleepwear.

The person at the door knocks again. "I am coming." Rebekah raises her voice slightly so the person outside can hear her. "Hello, James."

The person at the door is a young slave boy. He is about twelve years old and his primary duties keep him close to the main house. He is used as a messenger by all members of the main house, Hyuuga, servant, and slave. His main job is to deliver messages and to be a general gofer for the other servants and slaves who cannot move as quickly as he could. If he had grown up free in a shinobi village, he would probably be a genin.

"Miss Rebekah, Miss Hibiki has sent for all the branch family slaves and servants. You are to report to the main house immediately. You are being reassigned temporarily." James says this like he is reading from a script. He probably had it memorized and had probably repeated it several other times.

"No!"

Rebekah turns around. Neji, still in his sleep clothes, is glaring at the slave boy and showing more emotion than he had in the past week.

"Young Master Neji…" Rebekah starts.

"No, you can't be reassigned. You are my slave. You can't go to the main house. Lady Hinata can't have you. Hibiki can't tell me what to do." Neji turns a bit pink with his temper.

Rebekah sighs. "Young Master Neji, haven't I told you before not to interrupt people no matter what their station is? Besides, I am not leaving you. I am only being temporarily reassigned. The main house is frantically trying to take care of last minute details for the celebrations. Miss Hibiki is in charge of the kitchen, not the whole household. It is unlikely that I will even see Young Mistress Hinata unless she comes down into the kitchens."

"But-," Neji starts to argue.

"But nothing," Rebekah then turns to James who is watching the conversation and bouncing on his feet. "James, can you clarify for Young Master Neji here who the original orders came from and why I have to obey them?"

James grins and rattles off another fact that was probably memorized. "Master Hyuuga ordered Miss Hibiki to use the branch family servants and slaves to finish the preparations for the festivals."

"James, when do I have to leave for the main house?"

"Immediately," James replies as soon as she asked the question.

Rebekah nods and continued, "Give me ten minutes and you can have a sweet. I have to make sure that Neji gets ready for the day."

James grins wider. "I can do ten minutes, Miss Rebekah."

"Good," Rebekah then turns to Neji, "Young Master Neji, you have five minutes to get dressed and washed up, otherwise you are going as you are going to lessons as you are. Meet me in the kitchen."

Neji's eyes widen at the threat and then dashes up the stairs. He knows that Rebekah will make good on her promise. She had already carried him to lessons straight from his bed this week.

Rebekah watches him until he disappears from sight and then she motions for James to follow her to the kitchen. She swiftly portions out breakfast onto two plates and sets them on the table. She then goes to the sweet jar and carries it over to James. She lets him chose his candy and quietly eat it while she begins her breakfast.

Neji comes sliding into the room less than a minute before the five minute deadline. He sits in his chair where the food is and starts to poke at it. Instead of listless like he had been all week, he is now poking at his food grumpily.

Rebekah stares at him. He notices her when he looks up to glare at James who is happily sucking his sweet and he quickly puts his head down and shoves a huge bite in his mouth to keep from saying something that would get him in trouble.

"James, am I the last person you have to fetch?" Rebekah breaks the silence in the kitchen.

James nods at her, "I saved you for last because you are the only one that has full responsibility of a Hyuuga child." He says this a bit garbled because of the sweet.

"Could you do me a favor then?" Rebekah asks.

"It depends on what you want me to do and if I can have another sweet." James replies with a greedy grin at the sweet jar.

"I will give you two more sweets if you can take Young Master Neji to his older cousin Hirohito and ask him if Neji can stay with him after lessons until the celebration tomorrow."

"What?" Neji looks at Rebekah in disbelief. "I thought you said that this was only for today, what do you mean you aren't coming back?"

"Young Master Neji, I will be helping to prepare a huge feast for the whole clan and for many other guests. The others and I will probably be working through the night to get ready in time." Rebekah turns back to James, "Can you do that for me, please?"

"I can do that, but I will probably have to go really slow so that he can keep up." James smirks in Neji's direction when he says this. Neji just bristles at the insult.

"Are you ready, Young Master Neji? Good, James, make sure he can keep up with you alright?" Rebekah hides a smile when Neji bristles even more.

"Hey, I'm the one that is going to be a shinobi, not him!"

James grabs his sweets with a grin. He then ruffles Neji's hair up, grabs the boy's bag and takes off with a shout, "Then catch me, little baby."

Rebekah chuckles and cleans up the kitchen and heads off to the main house before Miss Hibiki kicks up a fit. Miss Hibiki is stressed already, there is no need to make her temper even worse. Thank the Lord for James; at least Neji isn't being listless at the moment.

The closer Rebekah got to the main house, the more crowded it got and the more chaotic. To get into the kitchen itself to report to Miss Hibiki, Rebekah had to dodge frantic people dashing every which way. Almost every full grown woman servant and slave is in the kitchen working on food preparation and cooking. The younger girls and the small boys are flinging themselves around the room to complete their specific tasks. In the center of it all is Hibiki. Hibiki is directing the chaos and commands the entire kitchen without raising her voice.

Delilah looks up from her cooking and remarks "Look who finally showed up. It took you long enough. Do you think that you are better than the rest of us that you couldn't be here the same time as everyone else, Slave?"

Rebekah ignores Delilah; it was not worth arguing with her over something so silly. She walks up to Miss Hibiki. "Miss Hibiki, what are my tasks to be done."

Hibiki finishes scolding two small girls and turns to Rebekah. "Good, you are here. Have you made arrangements for your charge?" Hibiki did not wait for Rebekah to confirm before she continued on. "Here is a list of things for you to do. Tell me when you are done and we will see what is left to do, but this list should last you well into the night." She hands a list over to Rebekah.

"And where do you two think you are going?" Hibiki glares at the two small girls that had been trying to sneak away. She then turns to Rebekah, "Take these two with you. They will help you prepare the ingredients. You are in charge of them. I don't have time to babysit them while getting this entire order of food ready on time." At this Hibiki turns from Rebekah and the girls and continues directing the chaos to her satisfaction.

Rebekah gathers the list and turns to the two girls. "Come along now. Do you know where there is an open spot for us to work?" She addresses this at both the identical girls.

"Yes-," starts the one in pink.

"Follow-," continues the one in lavender.

"Us," They finish together.

Rebekah follows both girls to an open spot at the counter and puts the list down. She turns to the twins and asks, "My name is Rebekah. What are your names?"

"Etsuko," says the one in pink.

"And Etsuyo," says the other twin.

"All right then, Etsuko, Etsuyo, it is time to get started." She assigns them the task of washing and peeling the ingredients. This gives her time to observe the two girls. They are about Neji's age, but were probably closer to Hinata's age. Their hands already have calluses, but not the kind that Neji is developing. They are obviously slave children from the inverted mark on their foreheads. They were probably born as slaves and knew no other way. They also had pale peach eyes with no irises.

"We haven't seen you before, why not?" Etsuko shows herself as the stronger twin and initiates the conversation. Etsuyo backs her up.

"It is probably because I am the slave of Young Master Neji. Until he is grown, I act as his guardian under the direction of his Uncle, Master Hyuuga. Master Hyuuga bought me about a month ago. It is not often I am called to the main house."

"How old is Master Neji?" Etsuyo decides to speak up. She says this with a slight blush

"Young Master Neji is six years old. He is probably close to your age." Rebekah watches Etsuyo blush with a smile. Etsuko grins and pokes her sister.

"You would rather be Master Neji's slave than Master Naoki's."

"Wh-wh-wh-what?" Etsuyo stutters, her pale eyes huge. Then she glares at Etsuko. "I'm just asking! Besides, Master Neji is a _boy_."

Rebekah laughs at the emphases on Young Master Neji's gender.

Etsuyo continues in a subdued voice. "If I belonged to Master Neji, I would never see Mama again."

Etsuko settles down, "Yeah, Master Naoki is a big meanie. We have to stay with Miss Hibiki most of the time here. He doesn't like us so he only lets us see Mama once a week. He says we are useless to him until we are about thirteen years old. That is how old Mama was when Master Oki bought Mama as a present for Master Naoki."

"We heard Master Naoki and Master Oki talking about us. They didn't know we were there. Master Oki wanted to know if Master Naoki was going to keep us or not when we are a bit older. Master Oki says that if Master Naoki doesn't want us that he will take us off his hands." Etsuyo continues the reasoning when Etsuko took a breath.

One of the older women at the next station overheard the conversation. She gets up and motions for Rebekah to follow her to a private corner. Rebekah gives the girls some short instructions and follows the old woman.

"You are the slave that belongs to Master Hizashi's boy, Neji." The old slave woman said this like a statement. "My name is Emiko. I have been with the clan since I was a young girl. There are some things you need to know. Those girls brought it up. Stay away from Master Oki and Master Naoki. They will make your life miserable."

"What is their position among the clan?" Rebekah knows that some relatives of a Master that you stay away from if you valued your life.

Emiko answered her, "Master Oki is an elder of the clan and is on the advisory clan council. Master Naoki is his son. To put it into perspective, Master Oki is the one who activated Young Neji's mother's seal. It was an unusual incident because of the branch woman's age."

Rebekah nods. "I will do my best to stay away from them, then. I will also make sure that Neji doesn't go near them. I have the suspicion that he knows who activated the seal."

Emiko smiles grimly. "The girls' mother's name is Tamar. She was bought as a present for Master Naoki by Master Oki for his twenty-fifth birthday. Master Naoki has not married, even though he has been facing increasing pressure from the rest of the clan because he is part of the main branch. Tamar was twelve years old when she was bought. The girls were born a year later. The only reason any of those three are alive today is because of Master Oki. He chastised his son for considering throwing an investment away. The babies would be useful in a few years."

Rebekah bites her lip and her face is pained.

Emiko pats Rebekah on the back. "Go on back to your station. Those girls could make anything blow up if they had half the chance. Hibiki is already giving us the evil eye." Emiko retreats back to her station, leaving Rebekah alone.

When Rebekah arrives back at her station, the girls are once again fighting with each other. They are screaming at each other and red in the face. The veins at their temples are showing.

Rebekah grabs each girl and physically separates them from each other. She then sits in between them and places them in their own spot so that they can't see each other.

Rebekah looks between the girls that are still angry. "If you can sit quietly and listen while we work, I will tell you a story. Can you sit beside each other without fighting?"

They both nod. Rebekah switches seats with Etsuyo so that the girls are sitting next to each other. Rebekah starts the story. "There was a man who was preparing a party, like the one we are working on. He invited many people to the party. Finally, the party was ready. He told his servant to tell all the people he invited that everything was ready.

"When the servant arrived to tell the guests, they made excuses. The first guest said that he had just bought a field and had to go see it. He couldn't come. Another guest said that he bought some oxen and had to go try them out. And another guest said that he couldn't come because he just got married.

"The servant returned to his master. The master was angry that his guests didn't come. He told his servant to go out into the street and bring with him all the poor, cripples, blind, and lame people in the whole town.

"The servant did as he was told. He came back to his master and told him that there was still room in the house. The master sent out the servant again, this time to the roads outside of the town. He wanted his house to be full so that the guests that he invited could never taste the food from the party."

Rebekah looks at the girls and asks, "Who do you think is more grateful, the guests who did not come or the people that got to eat the food?"

The twin sisters answer in unison, "The people that got to eat."

Before Rebekah could continue speaking to the girls, Hibiki walked up to them. "Rebekah, it is time for the girls to go to bed now. Have you completed your assignments?" At Rebekah's nod, Hibiki handed her another list. "This is what you have to do now. When you finish that, you may go to bed. Etsuyo, Etsuko, it is time to go. Say goodbye to Rebekah."

The girls say their goodbyes and follow Hibiki away. Rebekah says a quick prayer of protection over them, especially so that neither their Master nor their Master's father would take an interest in them.

Rebekah turns back to her tasks and ponders if there was any way that she could help the twins in getting them a better position in the household. "Please, Dear God, those girls are going to need all the help they can get. I need some major help in dealing with Young Master Neji as it is."

AN: Etsuyo and Etsuko hijacked the story. This was not originally what I had planned but the girls demanded that I deal with their issue before I deal with some of Neji's issues. I will have to deal with Neji next chapter. Comments? Criticisms? Please let me know.


	4. Back Story

The Hyuuga Slave

Chapter 4

Back Story

It is now the day of the party. Rebekah has now finished her duties in the kitchen of the Main House. Before the noon meal, she picks up Neji from his Hyuuga cousin. She also had Etsuyo and Etsuko put into her charge by Emiko for the day. Emiko was one of the slaves remaining in the Main House's kitchen for the day and couldn't have the twins getting underfoot.

"Miss Rebekah, I thought you had to help at the Main House? Why are you with them? Their weird, she keeps turning red." Neji whines and points at Etsuyo for his last comment. He had gotten used to Rebekah's focus being on his care and gets jealous when she has been assigned additional duties, especially when these duties consist of another child.

"Young Master Neji, the guests will be arriving soon and so the slaves are to return to their original duties and out of sight of those guests," Rebekah explained, "and that includes these two. Remember, Young Master Neji, if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all." Rebekah gently rebuked him.

"But why must you be out of site? It's not like the guests don't know the Hyuuga own slaves. Why are they hiding it?" Neji persisted.

"Does anyone know what the Lord Hokage thinks about slaves?" Rebekah queries the young trio.

Etsuyo pipes up hesitantly, "He don't like it. He don't like that the Hyuuga put seals on the branch."

Neji interrupts, "But if Hokage is the boss of everyone in Konoha, why doesn't he stop the sealing or slaves?"

Rebekah just sighs, "Young Master Neji, interrupting is a bad habit. From what I understand, when Konoha was made, one of the rues is that the clans can make up their own rules in how each clan is run. The Hokage is not allowed to tell a clan what rules to make up. To keep the clans here, the Hokage follows the rules."

By this time, the four of them have made it back to the small house that Rebekah and Neji shared. Rebekah begins to prepare a simple meal from leftover. "Do you understand why the Hokage cannot interfere?"

Etsuko pipes up, "So because the people have to be willing to be bossed by the Hokage, the Hokage has to follow rules so that they are still willing to be bossed."

"Very good Etsuko," Rebekah praises. She notices that Neji looks like he wants to say something but trying not to interrupt so soon after being scolded for it, "Young Master Neji, do you have something you wish to add to the discussion?"

"It's so stupid! How can the Hokage be the boss of everyone but he gets bossed around by the same people he bosses. He should be able to tell the Hyuuga Council to stop sealing the branches."

Rebekah just sighs, "Because, Young Master Neji, if the Hokage does that, the Hyuuga clan can just pick up and leave Konoha all together. If the three of you can remember what happened last year, the other shinobi villages would like to get a hold of the Byakugan. Without the village, what is stopping the others from taking more children from the clan? Now, enough with this serious talk, you all have free time for the rest of the day. Please be quiet and keep inside."

The three children scatter. Neji heads up to his room to hide from the little girls and the twins go to the common room to play a game of their own making.

Later that evening once Neji is asleep in his bed and the twins are asleep in a nest made from blankets in the living room, Emiko arrives to pick up the twins. Rebekah invites her in to sit and relax for a moment over a cup of tea.

When both are settled, Emiko grins and starts, "So let's begin with how old you are and how old you were when you became a slave because I know you were relatively new to being a slave. You would not have such a good position as a slave if you were sold from a previous Master for being a troublemaker. So?"

Rebekah sighs in resignation, "I am currently seventeen years old and I was sixteen when I was given to the slavers and became a slave."

"You are old enough for it, are you married or were you promised to be married?"

"No."

"Why? You are pretty in a lasting way and are built strong and sturdy and be able to bear children."

Rebekah smiles sadly, "In my homeland, my religion is punishable by death. My mother was caught six years ago and refused to either recant or tell the names of other believers. The government killed her for it. My twin baby brothers were not quite two years old. I took over the task of raising my younger brothers and sister."

Emiko suddenly grins, "So that's why you are so good with Young Neji."

Rebekah returns the smile, "Yes, last time I went through age five with a little boy it was with a set of identical twins."

Neji pads in with his eyes closed partially. "Miss Rebekah, I can't fall back asleep. Can I stay with you until then?" Rebekah opens her arms and Neji curls up in them. Neji gets comfortable and asks, "Miss Rebekah, you have kids my age?"

Emiko hides her grin while Rebekah sighs and answers the young boy who is too sleepy to be jealous. "No, Young Master Neji, I raised my younger sister since she was around your age. I also raised my baby brothers since their toddlerhood."

"So you have three brothers and sisters?"

Rebekah smiles sadly, "Young Master Neji, before I was taken from my homeland, I was the second child of six children. I had an older brother, three younger brothers and a younger sister."

"Where are they now?" Neji questions sleepily.

Rebekah closes her eyes in grief. "My younger brother and sister were killed before we were given over to the slavers. They were only thirteen and ten years old at the time. My big brother was separated from me not long before I was brought to Konoha. From what I heard he was headed to the metal mines outside Suna out in the desert. The average lifespan for a strong, healthy young man is eighteen months. He is twenty now.

"The baby brothers are now seven years old. They were separated from Caleb and I not long after we were marched out of Tea Country and into Fire Country. They were taken by the new shinobi village of Oto. There are not enough recruits to be trained to be shinobi in Rice Country. Because of this, 'recruiters' are sent out to the slave trains to find and buy young children around you age and a little older to be trained."

Neji takes more of an interest at this information. Rebekah gently rebukes him, "Young Master Neji, you need to keep in mind that if a shinobi war breaks out, it is a very real possibility that you will face my baby brothers on the opposite side of the battle field."

Neji snuggles in closer, almost asleep, and mutters, "Then I will win and bring them back to you."

With that Neji drifts off to sleep. Rebekah holds him tight, bows her head and whispers, "I can only pray, Young Master, I can only pray and have faith that things will work out to the Father's will."

Emiko quietly washes up the tea things and ushers out the young twins. Leaving Rebekah holds the sleeping Branch child while remembering the ones that have been lost and those that were as good as lost.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters

Sorry there is no story is in this chapter but some back story had to be explained. There will be a new story for Rebekah to tell next chapter.


End file.
